Tracks of your Tears
by yume girl 91
Summary: UlquiRuki AU 3-shot. Better give it a read. COMPLETE!
1. Childhood

~Tracks of your tears~

"Why are you sad, Mister?"

Ulquiorra observed the mere speck of a young child who had spoken to him. Though his expression revealed no surprise he was indeed confused. No one in years beyond remembrance had been able to see him for he was a ghost. A slightly immaterial, thin, black-haired man with two trails of red streaming beneath each eye. A murder victim, unsolved but unable to leave the Park where everyday his former sweetheart came with her daughter to play.

He decided it best to ignore the small raven-haired girl watching him with solemn eyes.

~*~

"Why are you following me?" he finally asked aloud. The crisp orange leaves of the trees rustled with the shifting of his emotions. "Because you looked lonely," said the girl; she wore denim overalls and a white shirt. It was no doubt that she was young. Perhaps five or so, he guessed speculatively. He was sure he had seen her playing ball often on with Orihime's girl.

"Here," she rolled the rubber playground ball in her hands and then tossed it across the remaining distance between them. "Catch." He watched the red ball roll and come to a stop at his loafered feet. He simply stared at it for the longest time, all the while feeling the little girl's too-large eyes in her small pinched face resting on him. Finally, he bent slightly, brushing his hand over the surface of the ball, a slight breeze responded and pitched it back to her.

Her smile was radiant. However it vanished all too soon with the call of a man's voice. She and he both glanced toward the playground beyond the trees, a cool wind rippled through the branches. "Rukia!" the call came again. She started and fidgeted slightly, looking fearful. "I have to go now," she said remorsefully. Ulquiorra turned away, wondering if Orihime had left yet.

Leaves crunched, he knew she was leaving. He prepared to do the same, however his departure was silent into the wind.

~*~

"You..." he felt eyes on him. An eerie sensation even though the whole of the neighborhood children had gathered on the pleasantly cool autumn weekend. He sat apart, on a bench wholly to himself save for the same girl as before openly staring at him with large violet eyes. The young mothers standing back watching their broods mingle and shriek in play together, observed her at once, speaking to--what they assumed was empty air.

"What's your name?"

His expression darkened.

He caught the words 'pity' 'her father' 'alone' and 'strange.' The last in particular struck something within him deeply. It had been Orihime gossiping in a low voice to the others. _His Orihime. His beloved. Talking in that way about..._

"Your name? It's very rude to not answer someone when they've asked you a quest--"

"Ulquiorra." he said, glancing back and catching the hint of the beautiful smile he had witnessed days before. "Rukia," she said, meaning herself. He nodded slightly, "I know. I recalled it from before."

She beamed at him even when the mothers whispered to their children to stay away from her.

~*~

"Ulquiorra!"

He barely lessened his pace through the shrubs. She soon caught up to him, wide-eyed and angry. "Why didn't you wait up for me?!" Emotionless eyes flickered her way, "leave me be. Associate with others your age." He knew what her answer would be and was even surprised at the pang that accompanied hearing her words and the shrug that followed.

"They all stay away from me."

"Don't you have friends?" he asked quietly.

"Only you."

"Don't delude yourself, girl. We cannot be friends." he missed the flicker of hurt that passed through her eyes. Like with any emotion she felt, it was soon buried and a mask of calmness worn to prevent further wounding. "Why not?" a hint of defiance crept into her voice. Ulquiorra sighed and the wind sighed along with him, "the living and the dead cannot mix. It is forbidden."

"By who?"

Her questioning, he found impertinent. "I do not know."

"Then if you..." she struggled, "don't know...maybe it's not true then!"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," he said warningly.

"Whatever you say. How about we do something today..."

~*~

He would never have admitted it.

_Before another had done it. Been all he wanted and needed. Desired to see day after day. Another whose smile he wanted to be the cause of..._

Rukia.

The girl had brought something into the regret filled hell he had been trapped in.

Rukia.

Who came on the rain-soaked days to huddle under the trees and watch with him, the sky empty out. Her father was gone at work so that made it easy to sneak out under the watch of another neighbor and go to the Park.

He was afraid. He was so afraid of becoming dependant on the girl's presence. He tried so hard to keep a distance between them, one she was always able to surmount with little difficulty. _The living_...his eyes wandered to her delicate face and her upturned eyes fringed by thick black lashes. She was ten now. She had been coming to the Park for a little over five years, he realized, how time had flown. She had grown some, was louder in her opinions and wore jeans and a shirt instead of overalls. _The dead_...he observed himself detachedly. He hadn't changed from the moment the knife had entered his heart.

He was..._the same_.

He would never change while she grew up. Never see her unless it was--

"Ulquiorra?"

Something hurt inside but he forced his expression to remain impassive lest she suspect something was amiss. "Yes, Rukia?" he answered after a moment of painful deliberation. _He would tell her to stay away--he would say he never wanted to see her_--

Warm fingers touched his cheek. Startled, he turned eyes full of confusion to her.

"Just smile," she said, tapping her finger to the corner of her mouth.

~*~

And though he had never smiled for anyone but Orihime and never again after that, he felt his lips quirk up slightly in the semblance of a smile. He decided then he would wait to tell her. _Next time_, he promised to the worry nagging his mind. _There would always be a next time_.

~To be continued~

Disclaimer: don't own Bleach.

AN: Thanks for reading--no flames or idiotic spammers! Reviews are always appreciated. :)


	2. Dancing beneath the stars

Prom night.

She was sixteen. The day was a frosty January afternoon with peeks of sunlight stealing through the fluffy clouds and white puffs of breath escaping her lips as she talked excitedly about the dress she had seen in a store downtown. Ulquiorra only half-way listened. She needed a partner, someone to ask with her to the dance. That did not escape his hearing.

"Ulquiorra!"she snapped, finally noticing his preoccupation, "are you even listening to me?!"

"I am." he said levelly, turning his dark green eyes on her suddenly flushed face. _Curious_. She must have realized her coloring had nothing to do with the weather and quickly her cheeks were averted. It was sometime before she spoke again, this time with a question.

"Ulquiorra, do you...know how to dance?" her voice had become quiet and she was all but addressing the leaf strewn ground rather than look into his face.

For his part, his eyes closed and he remembered another's smiling, laughing face and long orange hair streaming out behind her as they spun around. "Yes," he said, opening his eyes once more to find Rukia openly watching him. "I used to with Orihime."

He did not miss the slight, pained expression that crossed her face. "I see," Rukia muttered, hunching down as if the cold were bothering her. He continued observing her quietly for a few moments longer until she spoke again, this time in an unmistakable tone of envy. "You really loved her, didn't you?"

It was a lie to say he hadn't. "I did."

"You do."

Again he was surprised by the conviction present in the girl's voice.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!" her outburst was unexpected. Her furious eyes rounding on him was something he didn't understand.

"How can I ask you to..." she faltered.

"Ask me what?" he had a feeling he knew however did not wish to so early crush her hopes.

"...Go with me to the dance." she muttered, looking askance.

For a moment in his mind's eye he could see a Gymnasium transformed into a glittering ballroom, couples whirling around in elegant wear and he and she among them. A night to remember, he wished in vain, silently praying to the Gods above for the impossible to become reality. Just one night. Just for her. Ulquiorra would have given anything to be alive at that moment. _It was a foolish hope_, he knew. Still...he couldn't bear to look into her face when he spoke next, "you know I can't, Rukia." He heard her shift slightly on the bench and she leaned forward, scowling, decreasing the space between them. "Why not?"

He wondered at her persistence. "Because..." he hesitated, but went on reluctantly sensing her waiting stare, "I've been long dead. You're alive, one of the living. I can't enter your world anymore." _And_, he added silently, _no one can see me but you_.

She was quiet and then abruptly she jumped up. "If you can't go then I won't!" she declared bossily as if her solution could conquer the gulf between them. Ulquiorra said nothing as he deemed it best to. For he seriously doubted she would heed a word of his.

~*~

Evening came. She didn't show. He hadn't really believed she would, for he was sure her father at least had dropped her off at the school. But just in case...he told himself, he stayed on an outer bench, a favorite of theirs, overlooking a particularly secluded area surrounded by trees. Hidden in the early darkness, he lay on his back, staring up moodily at the sky and few stars twinkling from under the cloud cover.

_Rukia...he wondered how she looked. If she was as radiant--_

"Hey, stranger." Leaves at the edge of the clearing crackled beneath demure silver pumps. Ulquiorra raised himself on his arms, looking to her silhouetted by moonlight and something else.

"You shouldn't have come," he whispered. She didn't answer, only held her hand out. He didn't ask why she had slipped away from the school to go there, didn't want to know who had accompanied her as her date. It didn't matter. Nothing much did when the veil was lifted and they were spinning, hand in hand, in step to music only they could hear.

~To be continued~

AN: one more chapter and then it's finis. Okay, now this is important. Would you like them to end up together (I can't give away details) but right at the end...? Please give me your opinion. :) Thanks for reading. No flames, stupid comments (you know what I mean!) or idiotic spammers!

Reviews are always appreciated! :)


	3. Someday

Leaving.

A year later and she was seventeen, young enough to be taken where her father said, but not yet old enough to stay his decision.

Going far away.

Across country to a higher-up position in the firm he worked in. Ulquiorra knew it was only human nature to seek better, he didn't begrudge the man for only desiring to do more for his only child. Once he had been the same for Orihime. Now he rarely if ever cast a thought to her. He had always had another to occupy his mind and attention--_something which Rukia demanded_.

~*~

Goodbyes were something he could've done without.

They sat in silence.

He wasn't sure what to say.

She struggled inwardly to hold back tears.

Three times she had tried to speak and each time simply closed her mouth, breathing in noisily of the cool autumn air. Finally a vehicle pulled up at the far end of the park, honking once. Rukia stood up, unable to look him in the eye. "It's my father. I...I have to go."

The ghost nodded slightly to indicate that he had understood, ignoring the _something_ rising in his throat.

"I--I'll come back."

Again a nod, though deep down he didn't believe her.

"I mean it!" she said forcefully, glaring at him through glistening eyes.

He had nothing to say to that. Whether she chose or not to return was entirely up to her.

"You don't trust me..." she muttered, looking down at the ground and her boots. Soon his slightly immaterial form shifted into her line of vision, his hand brushed the top of her hair, tucking aside a particularly stubborn bang from her face.

"It isn't that I don't have faith in you. I just don't see why you would return when nothing awaits you here."

"But you're--"

"I remain _here_. My time has ended, what right do I have to influence yours when you have the rest of your life ahead of you?" Ulquiorra knew he spoke logic, only what was the inescapable truth. _But_...

The car honked louder this time, under its deafening noise, he heard her whispered affirmation yet could find no comfort in it, only bitterness because of what could not be.

"But, I love you."

And she was gone. Running away so that he wouldn't see her tears flowing.

_I love you_.

He fell back down onto the bench, his face in his hands. Inside he had always known it would happen. _These feelings he had endeavored so hard to suppress...it had kept them at bay, remembering Orihime and the affection he had born for her. But...Orihime wasn't Rukia and it wasn't fair to compare the two. _

_Yes, he had loved Orihime but he loved Rukia more_.

And now...the ghost released his head and swung his accusing gaze to the sky, he would never see her again.

~*~

_Words,_ she thought sadly, _were indeed meaningless_.

Life revolved taking her farther and farther away from Karakura and the happy days spent in the Park. Acceptance came from a college overseas, her father advised she go.

_But--_the arrangements were made. Luggage packed. There was no time for a stopover in their old town. She went, unhappily.

Summer and Fall breaks. Were spent in the company of friends who couldn't be persuaded to relinquish any time to go and visit a crummy old town. She gave up, eventually convinced of their point that time was much too short to be wasted on something so trivial.

Graduation. Her on-and-off again boyfriend, Ichigo Kurosaki proposed.

Predictably she refused.

Two years passed and again he persisted.

She gave in with the assumption that he would have wanted her to move on, but...

The night before their wedding, she made it clear to Ichigo that he would never be first in her heart. _It was the only way_ _she could perceive of keeping faithful to the other. _

Life went on and hers did.

_Even though she was never able to keep her promise._

~Epilogue: Many years later~

_This place_...Ulquiorra observed the years' bedraggled children playing on rusted swings, shrieking in play..._was falling apart_.

Silent, unseen by all, he went through their midst, his destination lay in the bench set farther back, hidden among the trees. _It was their bench_. And he still thought of it as such even though a long stretch of yesterdays had fallen with her never coming back.

Ulquiorra hadn't expected it.

_Surely not. _

_How could he when the follies of youth had induced the fiction of what felt like true love and it was all a fallacy_? _A dream. A sweet yet illusory dream_.

He had reached the familiar bench.

A sigh escaping his lips when it was-as-always empty.

His eyes closed.

_Alone. Of course, it was foolish for him to be waiting-to have waited at all._

_Her word was_--

He sensed someone watching him. His eyes opened...

She sat there, dressed in the winter clothes of decades past.

"You came." He recognized them as being those she had worn on that day.

A playful smile tugged on her lips, "of course," she said haughtily, "I promised didn't I?"

"You did," he admitted then frowned slightly, "took you long enough."

Her smile faded, "I had some things left to take care of. But none of that matters now, does it?"

_That attitude_. The knot within his chest loosened. It **was** her.

"No, it doesn--"

Somewhere far away, a car honked. He was reminded of the day of their parting. With alarm he saw her rise, her eyes straying to his face.

"The ride is here--"

"But, you can't..." he stopped._ Go yet_. _Don't leave me_. _Not again_.

Rukia paused, looking to the light that glimmered in the distance with longing then back to him. She smiled, "come with me."

"I can't."

"Why not?" she frowned now, slowly comprehension dawned, "oh...you probably don't want to leave **her**. Not while she still--"

"I love **you**." He said quietly, gaze resting on the youthful face he had always dreamed of seeing again. "I love you and no other."

"Then...come with me."

"But--"

Impatiently, she took his hand, the warmth gone from her touch and then he understood.

_What could not be, could now_.

_She had come back for him and that was all that mattered_.

~Finis~

AN: I'm a girl with loose tear ducts. ;.; seriously.

Thanks for reading.

No flames-stupid comments-idiotic spammers!

Please review. :)


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